Security instructed to confiscate old ID cards

Temple security officers began confiscating expired Owl Cards from students and faculty who have not yet converted to the new cards that were distributed earlier this school year.

Both AlliedBarton security officers and Temple Police have been directed to confiscate the older cards from students and faculty if individuals try and use them to enter campus buildings or parking lots, said Capt. Jeffrey Chapman of Campus Safety Services.

“Those Owl Cards, someone could have been expelled from [the] university and still gain access…we don’t want those IDs circulating,” Chapman said. “They are meaningless. They don’t work for anything.”

The confiscation of IDs from students and faculty who have not yet received their new cards began on Oct. 1, and has stirred up at least one dispute.

Joyce Lindorff, a keyboard professor at the Boyer College of Music and Dance, said that while walking into the Tuttleman Learning Center entrance to Paley Library on Thursday, Oct. 4, she witnessed one of her graduate students upset with a security officer.

Lindorff said the security officer was arguing with the student, who was asking for her identification back. The security officer had a stack of old Owl Cards that she had confiscated under the directive of CSS, Lindorff said.

When Lindorff asked the security officer for her badge name, Lindorff said, the officer “turned it around” to hide it from view.

Lindorff then went to CSS, but was unable to get word on the situation, she said.

“I really didn’t like seeing our campus turn into a police state,” Lindorff said. “All these really diligent students are getting their IDs taken away.”

Police and security officers advised students attempting to enter buildings with old ID cards between Sept 10. and Sept. 30 that their cards would no longer be effective after Oct. 1, Chapman said. New Owl Cards were activated for use Sept. 11.

Scott Brannan, director of the Diamond Dollars office, who tracks the distrubution of the new Owl Cards, could not be reached to confirm the number of students and faculty who have yet to recieve their cards. University Communications indicated Brannan is on vacation and that no one else at the university could access that information.

In regards to an AlliedBarton security officer hiding her name tag, Chapman said: “That’s inappropriate, for them to not say what their name is. They didn’t do anything wrong, I don’t know why they would do that.”

Students who have not received their new Owl Cards may do so by visiting the Diamond Dollars office at 1910 Liacouras Walk. Faculty must pick up their new cards at the Student Center.

John Moritz can be reached at john.moritz@temple.edu or on Twitter @JCMoritzTU.

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